Bay Station Love the Bay 2019: Episode Two featuring Yours Truly, Michele

Bay Station welcomes chanteuse and drummer Yours Truly, Michele aka Michele Kappel to the sailboat Espresso, for an afternoon conversation and concert on the Oakland Estuary of San Francisco Bay.

Bay Station Loves the Bay Video Series Launch! Episode 1 with Penny Opry

Bay Station welcomed nautical music duo Penny Opry to the sailboat Espresso for a later morning conversation and concert on the Oakland Estuary of San Francisco Bay.

Bay Station - "Trickster Moon" (Super Blood Moon Lunar Eclipse)

ay Station Love the Bay Full Moon Sail -January 2019. Filmed on the Alameda-Oakland estuary during the Super Full Moon Lunar Eclipse 1/20/19

Deborah Crooks "Record of a Day" (Pint of Soul Video)

"Record of a Day" by Deborah Crooks

Back in  January, I spent an afternoon shooting a couple videos with  Pint of Soul at Amado's in San Francisco. This live version of"Record of a Day" (from the Beauty Everywhere CD)  features Art Khu on piano, Kwame Copeland on guitar, and Kim Xuan Nguyen on bass. Enjoy!

New Music from The Welcome Matt: "More Empire Days"

San Francisco's The Welcome Matt is releasing a new album! Check out the video for the first single, the title track "More Empire Days":


Then go get yourself a ticket for his album-release show at Doc's Lab on May 13. 
KC Turner Presents
The Welcome Matt
Special Guests- Guinevere Q / Seth & Erma
Saturday, May 13 - 8pm
at Doc's Lab San Francisco
$15 ADV / All Ages

Watch: Deborah Crooks | Brand New Video for "Wishing Tree" - Pint of Soul

Announcing the release of the video for one of my newest songs,"Wishing Tree!" I wrote "Wishing Tree" after coming upon several such trees in the Bay Area (like this one in Port Costa, left). 

"A wish tree is an individual tree, usually distinguished by species, position or appearance, which is used as an object of wishes and offerings. Such trees are identified as possessing a special religious or spiritual value. By tradition, believers make votive offerings in order to gain from that nature spirit, saint or goddess fulfillment of a wish."

"Wishing Tree" is part autobiography and part wish for everyone to breakthrough oppression, be happy and free.
 Shot by Pint of Soul at Amado's in San Francisco in January, the song features Art Khu on piano, Kwame Copeland on dobro, and Kim Xuan Nguyen on bass. Let me know what you think, and please share!




 

Holiday Shows & Music: Mann & Naylor Update the Usual

I went to two very different but equally excellent holiday-themed shows this past weekend: Aimee Mann's rock 'n roll Holiday special at The Fillmore on Friday and Jacqui Naylor's intimate jazz show at Salle Piano's on Sunday. Very different in setting and mood, they were both excellent, featuring stellar accompaniment (key players being songwriter/guitarist Ted Leo for Aimee and pianist Art Khu for Jacqui) great singing and new takes on holiday favorites.

Both Mann and Naylor have above-and-beyond-the-usual holiday albums. Check 'em out.
Jacqui Naylor — Smashed for the Holidays
Aimee Mann —  One More Drifter in the Snow

 In addition to co-leading the show with Leo — they've been performing as 'The Both'  for the past year or two — Mann called in a couple of comedians as well as Bangle member Susanna Hoffs to fill out the evening. Their video, below, albeit not Christmas-related, captures the chops and humor this bunch brought to the stage.

Artist Interview: The Welcome Matt's POP JUNK FLUFF and HYPE

San Francisco musician Matt Langlois, aka The Welcome Matt, is a tireless, fearless and fun artist. Touring, collaborating and recording continuously, the Bay Area-via-New England troubadour has had his work featured on  KFOG’s popular Local Scene CD twice, teamed up with renowned modern dance choreographer Christine Cali to co-create multi-day dance performances, and signed a publishing deal with Wixen Publishing. Along the way, he co-wrote a top-40 European hit “San Francisco,” by Cascada, recorded and released a video for his cover of David Bowie’s ‘DJ’, collaborated with Cali on another three-day production, ‘L.O.A.D.E.D.’ and launched a video series featuring other local artists guesting on his songs called 'Welcome Matt Wednesdays.' Amid all these accomplishments, he managed to sneak in recording a new collection of indie-rock goodness, “POP JUNK FLUFF and HYPE,” recorded at Lost Monkey Studios in Hayward, CA.   Advance notice on POP JUNK FLUFF and HYPE, which will be released July 16, is already attracting critical raves: "Pop Junk Fluff and Hype"...romps eagerly around the ears," wrote The Ringmaster Review. "Fiery rock guitars flame over the pop canvas whilst vocals and keys leap with energetic rigour and enterprise. It is a spellbinding mix of styles and flavours, electro and alternative rock... yet another impossible to ignore or resist piece of excellent rock ‘n’ roll."  

Langlois discussed the process and influences leading up to his latest batch of songs... and his next!

Q:Who do you count as major influences?

The Welcome Matt: David Bowie, The Kinks, The Clash, The Replacements, Aimee Mann, Blumfeld, Camper Van Beethoven, Devo, The Who, Blur, Roy Orbison and Gil Scott Heron.

Q: Can you name your top three albums?  

TWM:[I] first listened to these during pivotal points of my creative up bringing. They conjure a certain sense of longing:

Scary Monsters—David Bowie

London Calling—The Clash

Lola vs the Powerman Moneygoround—The Kinks

Q: When did you write your first song? 

TWM: 8th Grade “Right Back To the Center." I probably thought I was channeling John Lennon.

Q: What's your writing process like? Do you write everyday? 

TWM: Like all mechanisms of survival and coping with existence… eating, sleeping, staying healthy, not staying healthy, and dreaming. In other words it’s in constant motion…songs are always smoldering.

Q: How did you go about selecting the songs for POP JUNK FLUFF and HYPE? Did you have them all before you went into the studio or did the recording process inspire new material? 

TWM: Yes, I wrote a list of songs i thought that would work together sonically and conceptually.

Most songs come in batches… originally these came as a loose concept album.

I was originally going to name the CD “The Return of a generation xer," hence, “The Welcome Back.” Then “ Key of G" which is about shedding the past. After that comes songs with loose concepts of that person dealing with aspects of modern day life such as technology, government surveillance, mind control through consumerism, global warming ("A Hail Mary"). But the “Xer” leaves again [and] travels the world (Let’s Really Go) to gain perspective and makes a decision to “Cast a Line” toward living more life despite the negative effects of the current state of things (instead of throwing in the towel on the world in which he/she has come back to). I decided to simplify and name it POP JUNK FLUFF and HYPE.

Q: Describe the recording process for you?  

TWM: 4 cups of hacking out rough sketches of song arrangements with 3 tablespoons of tempo, mix in a layer of drum groove over a thick bed of bass, ( keep stirring !). All the while sprinkle over various guitars, synthesizers, percussion, maybe a little piano, roll it all around a preheated pan of vocals, shove it in your brain oven for a bunch of weeks until you’ve eaten and digested it all, and hope someday others will want to sit down at your table and enjoy a nice meal.

Q: Did songs take on different directions in the studio? What might be the most different result of what you brought with you to the studio?

TWM: Very often and most of the time I wonder how they’ll come out on the other side. 
More info @ www.welcomemattsf.com/
Buy Cast A Line on itunes HERE
Listen to songs from POPJUNKFLUFF and HYPE performed LIVE. @The RiteSpot  3153 17th
July 17th 5:30pm (Pre-set performance for CALI&CO's You ARE HERE @ODC Theater)
then again @The Rite Spot 3153 17th July 20th 8:30pm

Welcome Matt Wednesdays #2 with Deborah Crooks and Kwame Copeland

Amid a prolific 2013 which included collaborating with modern dance choreographer Christine Cali, touring throughout the US, signing a publishing deal with Wixen Publishing and releasing several original videos,  The Welcome Matt, aka San Francisco artist Matt Langlois, self-produced POP JUNK FLUFF and HYPE, a 10-song collection full of indie pop-rock gems. Kwame and I were privvy to learn one of the tunes from POP JUNK FLUFF and HYPE, the catchy "The Key of G,"  as a part of a laid-back recording of the Welcome Matt Wednesday video series. Can you tell The Welcome Matt knows his way around a hook? Find out more about The Welcome Matt at his site: http://www.welcomemattsf.com & view the video here: http://youtu.be/8gFrTV30nno